EEOICPA BULLETIN NO.02-02
Issue
Date:
________________________________________________________________
Effective
Date:
________________________________________________________________
Expiration
Date:
________________________________________________________________
Subject:
Department of Labor verification of employment at certain
facilities
Background:
Since the inception of the Energy Employees' Occupational Illness
Compensation Program, the Department of Energy (DOE) has been responsible for
conducting employment verifications for each claim received by the Division of
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation (DEEOIC). For certain atomic
weapon employer (AWE) facilities and beryllium (Be) vendor facilities, DOE did
not initially have access to personnel records that could verify
employment. In order to overcome this
difficulty, DOE made arrangements with corporate entities to obtain information
concerning past or present employees of particular facilities. These corporate verifiers had access to
personnel records that were otherwise unavailable to the government. Using information collected from these
corporate verifiers, DOE was able to complete form EE-5. Unfortunately, the DOE was unable to identify
a corporate verifier for some of the AWE or Be vendor
facilities. For employees who worked at a facility for which
there are no employment records and no corporate verifier, DOE has been
unable to conduct employment verification.
In an effort
to streamline the process of employment verification, the DEEOIC will assist
DOE in the process of verifying employment for employees who worked at AWE and Be vendor facilities for which corporate verifiers have been
identified. In addition, for those facilities for which the DOE has not
identified a corporate verifier and does not have access to employment records,
DOL will request employment information from the claimant, and if necessary,
the Social Security Administration (SSA).
The DOE has
produced three lists naming facilities for which they (1) are unable to obtain
any employment verification documentation, (2) have identified a corporate
employment verifier or (3) have access to employment records. The CE will
reference these lists to ascertain the correct routing procedure for employment
verification.
Reference:
20 CFR 30.105
Purpose:
To notify the District Offices of the process for verifying employment
at certain AWE or Be vendor facilities.
Applicability: All staff.
Actions:
1. Attached
to this bulletin are three lists (Attachments 1, 2 and 3). The lists are designated as follows:
List 1: No Corporate Verifier
This list
provides the names of AWE and Be vendor facilities
where the DOE has no employment records and has not been able to locate a
verifier.
List 2: Known Corporate Verifiers
This list
provides the names of AWE and Be vendor facilities
where the DOE has identified a corporate entity that owns the facilities'
employment records. Moreover, the list
will provide specific instructions for how each corporate entity is to be
contacted with requests for employment verification.
List 3: DOE Verifiers
This list
provides the names of AWE and Be vendor facilities
where the Department of Energy, or one of its contractors, owns the employment
records, and DOE is able to verify employment directly.
2. Each list should be maintained by the
District Office and distributed to all CEs.
When necessary, revision to the lists will be transmitted to the
district offices in the form of an updated bulletin.
3. Resource
centers no longer submit employment verification packages to the DOE. Instead
all new claim packages prepared at a resource center are referred
directly to the responsible District Office (DO). Once received by the DO, the case create
clerk will input the appropriate tracking data and refer the claim to the
appropriate claims examiner (CE).
4. Upon
receipt of a new primary claim, the CE is to determine whether a covered
condition is being claimed on the EE-1 or EE-2.
If there is no indication that a covered condition is claimed, the CE is
to develop medical documentation to establish the existence of a covered
condition. A primary claim is not to be
developed for employment verification unless a covered condition has been
claimed.
5. After it is determined that a covered medical
condition has been claimed, the CE is to review the employment history provided
on the EE-3, Employment History form.
For each potential DOE employer, contractor or subcontractor, AWE, or Be employer, the CE will need to determine the course of
action necessary to obtain employment verification. This process begins with a comparison of the
claimed employers provided on the EE-3 and lists 1, 2 or 3.
6. If the CE reviews the employment history and
notes a claimed employer from List 1 or 2, a single copy of the DOE
Verification of Employment Memorandum is to be printed out and spindled to the
case file (Attachment 4). This memorandum substitutes for the EE-5. The insertion of the memo into the case file
record will serve as DOE's response to the claimed employment.
7. For a claimed
employer appearing on List 1: No
Corporate Verifier, the CE will first review any evidence substantiating the
period of employment. This evidence can
include contemporaneous evidence, such as wage statements, tax documentation,
union records, pension information or affidavits. The CE must determine whether the
documentation is sufficient to verify the entire claimed period of employment. It
is not necessary for the evidence to be so conclusive as to substantiate the
employment beyond all possible doubt.
However, the evidence should be of sufficient quality to convince the CE
of the validity of the period of employment being claimed. The CE should apply
reasonable discretion in weighing any evidence submitted by a claimant.
The CE should
be aware of the fact that the amount of documentation required depends on the
type of claim. For a claim of beryllium
illness, the evidence need only establish the presence of the employee at a
designated vendor. Conversely, for a cancer claim, the CE would need to verify
the entire period of employment being claimed. The CE can accept as factual any
period of employment for which there is sufficient and reliable documentation.
If the
evidence is deficient for any period of claimed employment, the CE is to
prepare correspondence to the claimant requesting additional information. Attached to the request should be a blank
SSA-581 form (Attachment 5). The SSA-581
authorizes the release of earnings information from the Social Security
Administration. The CE should advise the
claimant in the cover letter that the SSA-581 should be completed for the
reason that it may become necessary for the Department of Labor to obtain
earnings records from the Social Security Administration. Once the correspondence is prepared and
released to the claimant, ECMS is to be updated with a DE status code.
The claimant
should be provided up to thirty days to respond. If after 30 days, the claimant does not
produce any new evidence or provides evidence that does not support the period
of claimed employment, the CE should prepare the case
for referral to the SSA. The CE, at his
or her discretion, can grant an extension to the period of time the claimant
may take to produce documentation.
However, the period of time permissible is not to exceed sixty
days.
The package
to SSA should include a cover letter requesting SSA to perform an earnings
search on the named employee. Attached
to the cover letter should be SSA form 581 that indicates the name of the
employee, employee SSN, and the years of employment to be researched. In addition, a signed release from the
claimant must be attached. Upon release of the package to the SSA, the CE will
input code SS.
Depending on
the response from the SSA, the CE is to either accept the period of employment
as verified or deny the claimed period of employment due to lack of viable
documentation. The CE should document
receipt of the SSA response by entering code SR into ECMS.
8. For any employer named appearing on List
2: Known Corporate Verifiers, the CE is
to review the "Contacting Instructions" provided by the DOE. This is an attachment to List 2 that provides
details concerning how a CE is to contact individual corporate verifiers. Each
corporate verifier has particular requirements concerning the information to be
provided. These corporations have no obligation to supply information to DOL,
as there is no formal contract or payment to them. Therefore, it is important that the CE
complies with the instructions listed in the "Contacting
Instructions."
It is not
necessary for the CE to submit a copy of documentation from the case file to
the corporate verifier. Instead, a cover
letter providing the details of the request should be submitted. In most instances, the cover letter will
include the employee name, SSN, date of birth, employer name and the dates of
claimed employment. The CE will input
code CS into ECMS, to represent a request for evidence from a corporate
verifier.
Once the CE
has received a response from the corporate verifier, code CR should be entered
into ECMS. Any response should then be
reviewed to determine if it is sufficient to verify the claimed period of
employment. If the corporate verifier affirms the entire period of employment
being claimed, the CE is to accept the period as factual. If the corporate verifier is unable to
substantiate the claimed period of employment or can substantiate a portion of it,
the CE is to request additional information from the claimant. In particular, the CE will need to advise the
claimant that the DOL has been unable to verify employment for certain dates
through independent means. Moreover, the
claimant is to submit any contemporaneous documentation substantiating
employment for any unverified period of employment.
9. For any
employer named that appears on List 3:
DOE Verifiers, the CE will need to prepare an employment package for
referral to the DOE Workers' Advocacy Office in
10. Any other employment claimed by the employee
should continue to be verified through the appropriate operations center listed
on the EEOICPA Claims Routing Guidance list.
Disposition:
Retain until incorporated in the Federal (EEOICPA) Procedure Manual.
PETER
M. TURCIC
Director,
Division of Energy Employees
Occupational
Illness Compensation
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program Act:
Employment Verifications:
Listed below are those facilities which appear on the
Department of Energy (DOE) Covered Facilities List which meet the following
criteria:
1. The Department
of Energy has no employment records pertaining to them.
2. The Department
of Energy has not been able to locate a corporate entity which does own
these facilities employment records.
This list will be periodically updated.
Facility Name Location
(As it appears on the DOE Covered Facilities
List):
Also
Known As: Vulcan Crucible Steel Co.
Also Known As:
Universal Cyclops, Inc.
Anaconda Co.
Also Known As:
Anaconda Co.
Also Known As: American Brass Co.
Also Known As: Fabric Metal Goods
Plant
and
West Tube Mill
Also Known As: Anamet, Inc.
Also Known As:
ARF
Also Known As:
Also Known As: IIT
Also Known As:
Force Control Industries
Also Known As:
Also Known As: Former Dixie
Machinery ownership
Also Known As:
Also Known As: Mason & Hanger -
Crane Co.
Also Known As:
Also Known As:
Also Known As: Du
Pont Deepwater Works
Also Known As: Chambers Chemical and
Dye Works
Also Known As: E.I. Du Pont de
Nemours and Co.
Also Known As: Dyeworks-Carney's
Point
Also Known As: Deepwater Dyeworks
Also Known As:
Standard Oil of
Also Known As: successor to Canton Drop Forging
and Manufacturing
GSA
Also Known As: Resco Air Conditioning and Heating Co.
Heppenstall Co.
Also Known As: Tippins Inc
Horizons, Inc.
Also Known As:
Celcon Metals Co.
Also Known As: Lamotite, Inc.
Also Known As:
LOOW
Also Known As:
La Pointe Machine and Tool Co.
Madison Site (Speculite) Madison,
IL
Also Known As:
Madison Site (Speculite)
Also Known As: MSP
Also Known As: Genesse Packing Co.
Monsanto Chemical Co.
Also Known As:
Also Known As:
Also Known As:
Cercom Quality Products
Also Known As: General Ceramics
Also Known As:
University of the
Also Known As:
Uniroyal
Also Known As: Lonza Chemical
Also Known As: Abelson's
Pilot Plant
Also Known As: Koppers Co.
Also Known As: Naval Boiler &
Turbine Laboratory
Also
Known As: Reactive Metals Inc.
Also Known As: National Distillers
and Chemical Co.
Also Known As: Bridgeport Brass Co.
Also
Known As: Dawn Mining Corp.
Also Known As: Denn Mining Corp
Also Known As: Simonds Saw and Steel Div., Guteri
Special Steel Corp.
Also Known As:
Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp.
Also Known As:
American Car and Foundry
Also Known As: ACF Industries, Inc.
Superior Steel Co.
Also
Known As: Copper Weld Inc.
Also Known As:
Also Known As: Mallinckrodt Chemical Works,
Chemicals Div.
Also Known As:
Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg)
Also Known As:
Vitro Manufacturing (Canonsburg)
Also Known As: Vitro Rare Metals Co.
Vulcan Tool Co.
Also Known As:
Westinghouse Electric Corp. (
Also Known As:
North American Phillips Lighting
and Analytical Center
Also Known As:
Also Known As: Northeastern
Radiological Health Laboratory
Also Known As: National Lead Co.
Also Known As: AEC Raw Materials
Development Laboratory
Energy Employees Occupational Illness
Compensation Program Act:
Employment Verifications:
List 2: Known Corporate
Verifiers
&
Contact Instructions
Listed below
are those facilities which appear on the Department of Energy (DOE) Covered
Facilities List which meet the following criteria:
1. The Department of Energy has no employment
records pertaining to them.
2. The Department of Energy has located a
corporate entity which owns employment, or other,
records which enable the corporate entity to verify the employment of people
who used to work for these facilities.
3. The Department of Energy will provide
contact information for DOL to use in requesting information from corporate
verifiers. This information will arrive
under separate cover.
This list
will be periodically updated.
Facility Name Location
(As it appears on the DOE Covered Facilities List):
Allegheny-Ludlum
Steel
Allied
Chemical Corp. Plant Metropolis,
IL
Also
Known As: General Chemical
Division
Aluminum Co.
of
Also
Known As: Aluminum Research Laboratories
Also Known As:
Pine and 9th Sts
Armco-Rustless
Iron & Steel
Also
Known As: Armco Steel
Also
Known As: Ashland #1
Also Known As: Ashland #2
Also Known As: Ashland Oil Company
Also Known As: Haist Property
Also Known As: E. Haist and co
owners
Babcock &
Wilcox Co. (Virginia)
Also Known As:
Tubular Products Div., Lone Star Tech
Baker-Perkins
Co.
Also Known As:
APV Chemical Company
Beryllium
Corporation
of
Also Known As:
Cabot Corporation
Also Known As: Beryllium Corp. of
Also Known As: Berylco
Also Known As: Kawecki-Berylco
Beryllium
Corporation
of
Also Known As:
Kawecki-Berylco
Also Known As: Berylco
Also Known As: NGK Metals Corp.
Also Known As: Cabot Corporation
Also Known As: Beryllium Corp. of
Beryllium Production Plant
(Brush Luckey Plant)
Also Known As:
Brush Beryllium
Also Known As: Luckey Site
Bliss &
Laughlin Steel
Also Known As: B
& L Steel
Also Known As:
Blockson
Chemical Co.
Also Known As:
Blockson Chemical Group
Also Known As: Olin Mathieson
Also Known As: Olin
Bridgeport
Brass Co.
Also
Known As: Bridgeport Brass Co.
Also Known As: Uranium Metal Extrusion
Plant
Also Known As: General Motors,
Chevrolet Mfg. Div.
Also Known As: National Distillers
and Chemical Corp.
Also Known As: Martin
Also Known As: A.C. Spark Plug
Bridgeport
Brass Co.,
Havens
Laboratory
Also
Known As: Reactive Metals, Inc.
Also Known As:
Piedmont Mfg.
Brush
Beryllium Co. (
Brush
Beryllium Co. (
Also
Known As: Brush Wellman Co.
Also Known As: Motor Wheel Corp.
Also Known As: Magnesium Reduction
Brush Beryllium
Co. (Elmore)
Brush
Beryllium Co. (
Carboloy Co.
Also Known As: General Electric Metallurgical Products Department
Ceradyne,
Inc.
Chapman Valve Indian Orchard, MA
Also
Known As: Chapman Valve Manufacturing Co.
Also Known As:
Crane Co.
Cinicnnati
Milling Machine Co.
Also
Known As: Cincinnati Milacron, Inc.
Combustion
Engineering
Also Known As: Asea Brown Boveri
Nuclear
Engine Laboratory (CANEL)
Also
Known As: Pratt and Whitney Corp.
Also Known As:
Also Known As: United Aircraft Corp.
Coors
Porcelain Golden,
CO
Also Known As: Coors Ceramic
Electro Metallurgical
Also Known As:
ElectroMet Corp.
Also Known As: Umetco Minerals Corp.
Also Known As: Union Carbide Corp.
Also Known As: Electro-Metallurgical
Corp.